A Hamburger Today

Happy National Animal Cracker Day

Today is the most official day to celebrate the Animal Cracker—those somewhere-between-cookies-and-crackers shaped like lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) and of course, hippos.

There are many companies out there producing them. Since 1902, Barnum's Animal Crackers have apparently featured 54 different shapes. Have you ever found a bison in your mix? Or sheep? Yeah, we're still searching too. To celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2002, Barnum's added the koala. Competitor brand Stauffer's also makes them in flavors like chocolate graham, cinnamon graham, cotton candy, and frosted varieties. Some animal cracker purists would call this blasphemy, while others would say the more the merrier in the cracker menagerie.

What we really want to know: which part do you eat first? The head? Legs? Tail? Elephant trunk or camel hump when applicable? NACD is an important time to stop and reflect upon such matters.